


A Tale of Two Tricksters

by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Supernatural, The Avengers (2012), Thor (2011)
Genre: Gen, Tricksters, mention of the death of off-screen characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-29
Updated: 2014-11-29
Packaged: 2018-02-27 10:17:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2689121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel/pseuds/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy Lewis has one hell of a sweet tooth, and a penchant for just desserts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Tale of Two Tricksters

**Author's Note:**

> This borrows from Supernatural's concept of the Trickster, although no knowledge of the show is needed. I realise that Supernatural's concept of the Trickster is based loosely on the Trickster archetype, but one specific thing intrigued me about Supernatural's Tricksters - the fact that they appear to have a code of conduct, delivering 'just desserts' to deserving targets only. Thinking about that gave rise to this fic.

**A Tale of Two Tricksters**

Nearly every culture on Earth had its concept of the Trickster. From Eris to Anansi, most cultures had a mythical Trickster figure, who punished hubris and arrogance and tricked those who deserved to be tricked. They were gods and demigods, and while each and every one of them was different, they all had two things in common: one hell of a sweet tooth, and a penchant for delivering just desserts.

Not that all Tricksters had a place in mythology, especially these days. In the modern world Tricksters blended in with everyone else, playing their tricks in secret, using their powers carefully so that no one would suspect what they really were. It was a pretty sweet gig, Darcy had to admit.

Darcy Lewis was young for a Trickster, but no less powerful for that. Where most Tricksters roved around, never staying in one place for too long, Darcy Lewis liked to pick a territory and stick to it for a few years. Her routine had been a little disrupted by her visit to New Mexico, but it had all worked out in the end: now she was settled in New York with Jane Foster, working with her as part of an extended internship, in a city with ample targets to choose from.

Darcy had gone after Agent Coulson first, because the way he’d stolen Jane’s research with an urbane smile had really gotten Darcy’s goat, so to speak. She hadn’t pulled any major tricks – because, despite his behaviour, she could tell that deep down Coulson wasn’t a bad man – but minor ones that were designed to be deeply irritating without causing any real harm. For a month Coulson’s belongings – keys, pens, freshly-bought doughnuts, his favourite coffee mug – went missing one by one, whenever Coulson’s back was turned. It clearly left him frustrated, and wondering whether someone was actually stealing his things, or if he was just misplacing them. His ire was a joy to see, and Darcy cackled soundlessly as she watched, invisibly, as Coulson futilely searched his office for his official SHIELD pass, which _had_ been clipped to his suit jacket.

After an hour or so Darcy left the pass on Maria Hill’s desk chair for the Deputy Director to find, and hid the rest of Coulson’s missing stuff in unexpected places around his office. (Except for the doughnuts, because those had been delicious.) That done, she finally left him alone, considering the trick complete. Maybe next time Coulson would think twice before he took someone else’s stuff – he clearly didn’t enjoy it when it happened to him.

With a snap of her fingers, Darcy reappeared in Jane’s workshop, and took the place of the magical double she’d left behind to cover for her while she was gone.

Jane was still hard at work, too distracted by the glories of science to talk, so with a shrug, Darcy left her double in place again and went out to hunt for targets that deserved a trick or two.

* * *

Time passed, and Darcy had a great time living in New York. Decent coffee, good food, wifi everywhere, and best of all, so many people to pull tricks on.

Darcy went out one afternoon to pull a nasty trick on a guy who’d beaten someone unconscious, using her creativity to make it both painful and ironic. She was gone for an hour or so, and when she came back Jane was looking frustrated and packing up her equipment. It only took a moment for Darcy to absorb her double’s memories, and then Darcy was just as unhappy.

“Tromso!” she exclaimed. “Why the hell do we need to go to _Tromso?_ ”

“I know,” said Jane, looking displeased. “But it’s urgent, apparently. No one would tell me anything more.”

“I call bullshit,” Darcy immediately declared. “Something funny’s going on here. I mean, what’s so urgent about _Tromso?_ ”

“I have no idea,” said Jane. “But I guess it’s where we’re going. We leave in three hours.”

“This sucks,” Darcy said darkly. She’d just been getting used to New York, too. “Fine, Tromso it is. But they better have good wifi, wherever they’re sending us, because I have, like, three TV shows I need to stream.”

But despite Darcy’s protests, they ended up being sent to Tromso anyway.

They worked out why the next day, when New York was attacked by aliens.

Darcy watched in worry and fascination as events played out on the TV screen. There were aliens everywhere, attacking everyone in sight, but the alien invasion wasn’t going uncontested. In addition to the cops and military guys being trucked in, there were a handful of people fighting the aliens, and the news networks had footage of them. Darcy did a double-take as she saw a guy in a Captain America suit – if that guy was the real deal, she figured there was a hell of a story there – but the figure that caught her attention was a dude in a scarlet cape and armour.

“Jane, look!” Darcy exclaimed. “Thor!”

“I see him,” said Jane, staring at the screen. “What’s he doing here? How did he know about this?”

“You can ask him when you see him,” said Darcy. “Right?”

“Right,” said Jane distractedly, eyes glued to the screen. “I need to book a flight back to New York. Right away.”

It wasn’t that easy.

In the aftermath of the invasion, all of the major airports in and around New York had been closed, and SHIELD refused to fly Jane back to New York until things were more organised.

So the two of them stayed in Tromso, and watched the news, as more and more information was made available about the alien invasion.

Late that afternoon, the information was released that the invasion had been led by an extraterrestrial named Loki.

Darcy almost dropped the candy bar she was eating.

_Loki?_

Okay, so he’d invaded Puente Antiguo last year with the giant robot destroyer thing, but it had been clear that it’s only real target was Thor, and it hadn’t been hard to believe that Thor had done something to deserve it – the dude was clearly a bit full of himself, even if he’d come through and made the sacrifice play in the end. It was typical Trickster stuff, even if it was kind of hi-tech by Earth standards. But this? An invasion? Loki had broken the cardinal rule of being a Trickster: never deliberately target innocents. Innocents might sometimes inadvertently get hurt in the tricks Tricksters played, but they were never the trick’s target.

This invasion, though – no matter how you looked at it, countless innocents were going to get hurt, it was _unavoidable_ , and that broke the Tricksters’ major rule of conduct.

Darcy munched on her candy bar, and considered what to do.

Loki might be a Trickster from another realm, but he was still a Trickster, and there were procedures for this sort of thing. If a Trickster broke one of the few rules… well, they had to be held accountable.

So Darcy snapped her fingers, creating a double of herself at the same time as she made herself invisible. A second snap of her fingers, and she was in the New York SHIELD office she’d tracked down the location for after the events of New Mexico.

Darcy eavesdropped wherever she could, and soon got a rough idea of what had happened: Loki had dropped out of a portal, mind-controlled a bunch of people into doing his bidding (including Erik Selvig, which only made Darcy angrier, because Erik was a _friend,_ and a good man), and opened up a second portal to let the alien army loose on Earth. Some guy that SHIELD called the Hulk had succeeded in neutralising him part-way through the battle, apparently, and Loki was now in a cell somewhere in the building.

It didn’t take all that long for Darcy to find the holding cells.

With a snap of her fingers, she was standing inside Loki’s cell.

Loki was sitting on a chair, his arms bound behind it, and his ankles tied to the legs of the chair. He could easily snap his fingers, but it was possible that Trickster’s from other worlds used their magic differently, Darcy thought. Maybe snapping his fingers wasn’t all he needed to do to escape, and that was why he was still here. Or maybe the holding cell was where he wanted to be right now, for some reason.

Loki looked tired and pale and battered, and Darcy didn’t even feel a little sorry for him, after what he’d done.

“Hey there,” Darcy said, and snapped up a candy bar which she unwrapped nonchalantly, because first impressions were important. “So you’re the dude who led the invasion. How do you feel about just desserts?” She took a bite of her candy bar, and watched Loki with glittering eyes.

“Ah,” said Loki. “Usually I’m quite fond of them, but I find myself preferring to avoid them, right at this moment.” He watched Darcy warily. “I would much rather go unharmed.”

Darcy took a step forward, her eyes never leaving his.

“You’re a Trickster yourself,” she said. “Or were, anyway. You know how this works.”

“The invasion was none of my doing,” said Loki.

“Oh please, couldn’t you at least make the lie a believable one?” Darcy scoffed. She raised her hand, ready to snap her fingers.

“Hear me out!” Loki said rapidly. “Truly, my mind was not my own. I was taken as thrall by one more powerful than I, Lord Thanos. You are a Trickster – surely even one born and raised on Earth can yet sense the taint of his magic upon me?”

Grudgingly, Darcy reached out with her senses, ready for action if Loki tried anything stupid. But there it was – just as Loki said, there was a taint of someone else’s magic on him, concentrated particularly around his head, suggesting mind-magic.

“Okay,” Darcy said reluctantly, because if Loki really had been under someone else’s control, that changed things. Tricksters had strict rules of conduct, no matter how lawless they seemed. “You want some help getting out of here?”

Loki considered for a moment, then shook his head, expression wry.

“I think not,” he said. “I have some, ah, ‘unfinished business’ awaiting me on Asgard. I think it best that I deal with it as soon as possible.”

“Uh-huh,” said Darcy. “Well, I’ll make sure the gossip network hears about the thrall thing, so that you don’t get angry Tricksters out for your blood the next time you’re on Earth.”

“Much obliged,” Loki said gravely. “Ah… out of curiosity, how many Tricksters are there, on this planet?”

“Don’t know,” said Darcy, with a shrug. “A few dozen, maybe?”

“A few dozen?” Loki looked startled. “That’s… unusually large.”

“That’s what she said,” Darcy said without missing a beat. Loki looked like he didn’t know whether to roll his eyes, or laugh.

“Most realms have only one Trickster at any given time,” Loki explained. “A realm with dozens is a disconcerting notion.”

“Huh.” Darcy considered the idea. “I’m guessing your populations are a lot smaller than Earth’s, then.”

“We have learnt how to maintain a sustainable population while maintaining adequate living standards for all, yes,” said Loki dryly. “Unlike Earth.”

“Hey, we’ll get there,” said Darcy, and took another bite of her candy bar. “Might take us a while, but we’ll get there.”

“Unless you destroy yourselves first,” said Loki.

“Nah. Why do you think we have so many Tricksters?” Darcy pointed out. “We go after the peeps who make stupid decisions, you know? Anyway, I’ll leave you alone to your nice cell in a moment, but I don’t suppose you know where Thor is?”

“I do not,” said Loki. “I expect he is with the others who fought against me. I do know, however, the he intends to return me to Asgard tomorrow morning.”

“Well, he’d better contact Jane before then,” Darcy said, with a frown. “He made her a promise, and I don’t like guys who make promises to girls and then don’t keep them. It’s already been, like, a year with no word from him. If he leaves Earth without even sending a message to Jane, she’s going to be crushed.”

“My brother made promises to a woman of Earth?” Loki asked intently. He smiled. “Well, that should be interesting. If our paths cross again, you must tell me whether he kept his promises to her.”

“Will do,” said Darcy. “I’ll see you later. And hey, it was cool to meet you. You’re kind of famous in the Trickster community.”

Loki smiled, showing off all his teeth.

“I do try,” he said, and Darcy snapped her fingers, taking herself back to Tromso.

* * *

There was no word from Thor, and as the days passed – and it became clear that Thor had disappeared again – Jane’s mood dropped.

“Thor was here, and then he just left again,” said Jane, and Darcy’s heart went out to her boss, who was clearly heartbroken. “No message. _Nothing_. Not a word. For the last year, every waking thought I had was of finding him. All the work I did, it was for nothing.”

Jane was silent for a moment.

“So that’s it,” she said with finality. “I’m done.”

“I’m sure he had a reason,” Darcy tried to comfort Jane, but Jane only shook her head, and refused to hear Darcy’s words.

Thor better have a damn good reason for not contacting Jane in all this time, Darcy thought, or he was going to meet with a Trickster’s sense of justice.

Jane quit her arrangement with SHIELD and left to pursue a new project, and when she did, Darcy followed.

She didn’t expect Jane to get headhunted by Tony Stark, of all people, but the billionaire inventor was equal parts sincere interest and unreliable charm, and in the end, Jane agreed to work with him, which ended with Jane moving into Stark Tower full-time and Darcy working there every day.

In some ways, this made life both easier and harder. While Darcy was no longer the only one helping Jane, all the extra people around made it harder to take a moment to herself to swap herself out with a magical double, so that she could go off hunting for people who deserved to be tricked. It left Darcy feeling irritable that she couldn’t sneak out as often.

The other occupants of Stark Tower were okay, though. Stark was annoying enough that he could almost have been a Trickster himself, although it was clear that he wasn’t – there wasn’t a trace of Trickster magic on him. The rest of the Avengers Darcy didn’t know all that well, but they seemed nice enough. So Darcy got along just fine, and so did Jane, and it was all good.

Darcy was rescuing a litter of kittens that some jerk had left in a well to drown (and if his body was found in the same well three days later, well, that was just desserts, wasn’t it?) when a curious voice asked,

“Need a hand?”

Darcy turned around, her arms full of wet and mewling kittens, to see a familiar man standing there, wearing a green suit and with an emerald-coloured fedora tilted rakishly on his head, a smile on his lips.

“You!” Darcy said to Loki. “I thought you were on Asgard! And seriously, yes, please, can you take some of these kittens before I drop one?”

Loki took a couple of the kittens from her, cradling them in his arms expertly, and said, “Ah, but I _am_ on Asgard, as far as anyone else knows,” and gave a grin that was just as rakish as the angle of his hat.

“Magical doubles?” Darcy asked knowingly.

“One of my particular skills,” Loki agreed. He looked down at the kittens in his arms. “Is there somewhere warm and dry that we can take these animals?”

“Sure,” said Darcy. “Just give me a second.” Rearranging the bundle of kittens in her arms, she freed up one of her hands just long enough to snap her fingers.

A moment later, they were standing in her apartment, and Darcy put the kittens down on the plush towels that had materialised on the living room floor. Loki crouched down to do the same, and ran his hands over the kittens. When he took his hands away, the kittens were perfectly dry, although still mewling in distress.

“It’s okay, babies,” Darcy cooed, patting the kittens reassuringly. “Darcy is here to look after you.

“They’re old enough to eat solid food,” Loki observed. “Do you have anything suitable?”

Darcy grinned, and snapped her fingers, and a large bowl of cat food appeared in front of the kittens. The smell drew them towards the bowl, and soon the lot of them were eating busily.

“A singularly useful gesture,” Loki noted. “Do all Tricksters work their magic thus, on Earth?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Darcy explained. “I think Eris has learnt to do this thing with apples, like in addition to the finger-snap, but most of us snap our fingers like we’re starring in The Addams Family.”

Loki looked faintly blank, and Darcy realised that he hadn’t understood the reference.

“It’s a TV show,” she said quickly. “Never mind. So. I’m guessing things didn’t go so well, on Asgard?”

Loki grimaced.

“An understatement,” he said darkly. “I admit, I did not help my case, but I was curious to see how much leeway Odin would be willing to grant me.”

“Not much, huh?” Darcy asked sympathetically.

“For a man who claims to be my father in every way that matters, he was rather unforgiving,” Loki agreed dourly, with a slightly pinched look to his face. “But then, he has never shown himself to be particular fond of me, so it did not come as much of a surprise.”

Darcy patted his arm.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “His loss, though.”

Loki pulled a fake smile onto his face.

“Yes, well, I now know better than to seek his favour in the future, given how disastrously wrong it has gone in the past.”

“Absolutely,” said Darcy. “Hey, Halloween’s tomorrow. Want to go trick or treating? It’s like the one day of the year when Tricksters really go all out and celebrate, here in America. I mean, we didn’t always, but it’s kind of become this modern Trickster holiday.”

Loki looked thoughtful for a moment.

“That is the holiday in which children dress up in costumes, yes?”

“Not just children,” Darcy said cheerfully. “I’m planning on going as Sexy Female Thor, complete with fake hammer.”

“Oh, this I _must_ see,” said Loki, eyes gleaming.

So Darcy snapped her fingers, and a moment later she was wearing a mini-skirted armour dress, with a long flowing red cape trailing from her shoulders. She struck a heroic pose, holding the fake Mjolnir she’d conjured up.

Loki gave a delighted laugh.

“Oh, this is _marvellous_ ,” he said. “If you intend to walk the streets like that, then I simply must accompany you.”

“Only if you come in costume, too,” Darcy said firmly.

“Agreed,” said Loki, and the two of them shook on it.

The next evening Darcy opened her apartment door at Loki’s knock. She squinted a bit, and then couldn’t hold back her amused grin.

“Nice costume,” she said. “And I see the stories about your fondness for shapeshifting are true.”

“It is a valuable talent,” said the very _female_ Loki at her door, with a smile. “And I thought the costume was most entertaining, myself.”

Where Darcy was dressed as Sexy Female Thor, Loki was dressed as Sexy Female Captain America, complete with – Darcy snorted – a _glittery_ red, silver and blue shield.

“Okay, we need to take pictures,” Darcy declared. “Come in, I’ve got my phone here somewhere.”

Loki walked into the apartment, shooing away curious kittens who had come to inspect the new arrival.

“Smile!” said Darcy, holding up her phone. Loki smiled with all her teeth, and Darcy took a photo.

“Here, now take one of me,” said Darcy, handing the phone to Loki. “You just press that icon when you’re ready.”

“I see.” Loki raised the phone, and Darcy struck a pose. There was a shutter-click noise, and Darcy took the phone back to see a photo of herself on-screen.

“Nice,” she said happily, logging into Facebook to post the photos to her account. “Well, let’s go collect candy, compliment kids on their costumes, and trick anyone who deserves it!”

“An excellent plan,” Loki said with a smile, and the two of them left the apartment with a snap of Darcy’s fingers.

They ended up having an excellent Halloween together: half-way through the night Loki changed herself into a small child in a non-sexy Captain America costume so that she could collect candy with the other kids, while Darcy pretended her be her older sister. They tricked four people – most of them mildly, but there was one guy who, when Darcy and Loki investigated further, turned out to deserve a more severe trick – indulged in several childish pranks, and ended the night with a bucket full of candy.

Darcy also took a bunch of photos on her phone, which all ended up on Facebook later.

“Dude, that was so much fun,” she said to Loki, when the two of them were sprawled back on Darcy’s couch with curious kittens on them, back in adult form, although Loki was still in female shape. “Did you have a good time?”

“I did indeed,” said Loki, smiling. “And I thank you for it. And yet, after all this, I still do not know your name.”

“Oh!” Darcy exclaimed. “Right! I’m so sorry, I’m Darcy Lewis. God, I should have told you that ages ago.”

“It matters not,” said Loki, looking amused. “But what do you suggest we do now?”

“Well…” It seemed a pity to end everything so early in the night. “Want to go clubbing?”

“Why not?” Loki agreed, with a wicked grin.

* * *

Two days later, Thor reappeared on Earth.

Jane slapped him – twice! – and then kissed him, while Darcy took pictures, and sent them to the number Loki had added to her phone on Halloween.

 _Looks like Thor is keeping his promises,_ she texted Loki, while Thor and Jane made out.

 _Odin will be upset,_ was Loki’s reply. _We shall see whose will triumphs, Thor’s, or the Allfather’s._

 _Whose side are you on?_ Darcy texted back, out of curiosity.

_Hmmm… much as I hate to take Thor’s side, I hate to take Odin’s even more. Thor’s, then, but only nominally._

_Five bucks on Jane being more badass than Odin expects,_ Darcy texted.

 _You’re on,_ Loki responded.

Darcy tucked her phone back into her pocket just as Thor and Jane finally remembered that there were other people around.

“Hey, dude. I see you’re still all muscley and stuff,” Darcy greeted him. “How’s your brother?”

Thor’s face slipped into a frown.

“He is imprisoned on Asgard, in a cell where he can do no harm to others,” said Thor. “Why do you ask?”

“Just checking,” Darcy assured him, with a smirk.

 


End file.
